“And then from behind her veil there came a whisper.
“ ‘I couldn’t die without seeing you,’ she said. ‘I was sure you would come. I’ve one thing to say to you. I loved you, and I tried to choke my love. And for years, my dear, I have been reaping the harvest of what I did. I tried to kill love, but it was so much stronger than I. And now the harvest is gathered. I have suffered cruelly, you know, but I bless every pang of it. I needed it all. …’
“Only a few minutes before, I had quaked at the thought of seeing her. But now I could not suffer that the veil should cover her face.
“ ‘Put up your veil, darling,’ I said. ‘I must see you.’
“ ‘No, no,’ she whispered. ‘I should horrify you. I am terrible.’
“ ‘You can’t be terrible to me,’ I said. ‘I am going to lift it.’
“I raised her veil. And what did I see? I might have known, I think: I might have guessed that at this moment, supreme and perfect, I should see with vision.
“There was no scar or ravage of disease or disfigurement there. She was far lovelier than she had ever been, and on her face there shone the dawn of the everlasting day. She had shed all that was perishable and subject to decay, and her immortal spirit was manifested to me, purged and punished if you will, but humble and holy. There was granted to my frail mortal sight the power of seeing truly; it was permitted to me to be with her beyond the bounds of mortality. …
“And then, even as I was lost in an amazement of love and wonder, I saw we were not alone in the room. Two boys, whom I recognized, were standing at the other side of the bed, looking at her. It seemed utterly natural that they should be there.
“ ‘We’ve been allowed to come for you, mother darling,’ said one. ‘Get up.’
“She turned her face to them.
“ ‘Ah, my dears,’ she said. ‘How lovely of you. But just one moment.’
“She bent over towards me and kissed me.
“ ‘Thank you for coming, Roderick,’ she said. ‘Goodbye, just for a little while.’
“At that my power of sight—my power of true sight—failed. Her head fell back on the pillows and turned over on one side. For one second, before I let the veil drop over it again, I had a glimpse of her face, marred and cruelly mutilated. I saw that, I say, but never then nor afterwards could I remember it. It was like a terrible dream, which utterly fades on the awaking. Then her hand, which had been clasping mine, in that moment of her farewell slackened its hold, and dropped on to the bed. She had just moved away, somewhere out of sight, with her two boys to look after her.”
He paused.
“That’s all,” he said. “And do you wonder that I chose that room? How I hope that she will come for me.”
My room was next to Roderick’s, the head of his bed being just opposite the head of mine on the other side of the wall. That night I had undressed, lain down, and had just put out my light, when I heard a sharp tap just above me. I thought it was some fortuitous noise, as of a picture swinging in a draught, but the moment after it was repeated, and it struck me that it was perhaps a summons from Roderick who wanted something. Still quite unalarmed, I got out of bed, and, candle in hand, went to his door. I knocked, but receiving no answer, opened it an inch or two.
“Did you want anything?” I asked, and, again receiving no answer, I went in.
His lights were burning, and he was sitting up in bed. He did not appear to see me or be conscious of my presence, and his eyes were fixed on some point a few feet away in front of him. His mouth smiled, and in his eyes was just such a joy as I had seen there when he told me his story. Then, leaning on his arm, he moved as if to rise.
“Oh, Margaret, my dear. …” he cried.
He drew a couple of short breaths, and fell back.
Colophon
Ghost Stories
was compiled from short stories between 1912 and 1923 by
E. F. Benson.
Lance Linimon
sponsored the production of this ebook for
Standard Ebooks.
It was produced by
Alex Cabal,
and is based on transcriptions produced between 2019 and 2023 by
Chuck Greif, Tim Lindell, David E. Brown, and The Online Distributed Proofreading Team
for
Project Gutenberg
and on digital scans from
various sources.
The cover page is adapted from
Friedhofseingang,
a painting completed in 1825 by
Caspar David Friedrich.
The cover and title pages feature the
League Spartan and Sorts Mill Goudy
typefaces created in 2014 and 2009 by
The League of Moveable Type.
The first edition of this ebook was released on
March 16, 2024, 3:06 a.m.
You can check for updates to this ebook, view its revision history, or download it for different ereading systems at
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